Re: [9fans] Old Pharts Reminiscing?

[Sam <sah@softcardsystems.com>]

> > More to the point, I'm not sure it's possible.  People aren't
> > interested in learning how to program elegantly
>
> I don't agree. The people who want to, or like to, learn will have this
> interest. But most of the people getting into software these days
> aren't interested in programming, engineering, or even learning for
> that matter. It's all about padding your resume.

I'm not so sure it's necessarily the new programmer's fault.
I went through school without a single utterance on the topic.
The person responsible for teaching introductory programming gave
higher scores to those individuals who littered their code with comments.

"Comments and whitespace make code easy to read, so use lots of them."

There were a few good programmers in the department, but they taught
advanced courses.  By the time the classes came up most people were lost
and resorting to lifting implementations from the 'net for the grade --
as a group, even.  I happened to get lucky and find a mentor after
graduation who sat a stack of books on my desk to set me straight.

I'm exceedingly convinced that's the way to learn coding -- instruction in
the fundamentals combined with application from someone in the trade.
It's a pity the latter isn't more prevalent in education since the
combination of history and craftsmanship can make all the difference.

'Course, I'm still learning my history. :)

Sam